Sunday, April 22, 2007

A Few Good Men

I had never seen this film but when consulting fellow family members and friends, they suggested that I see this classic movie. After seeing it, I was thankful that this assignment opened my eyes to such a great storyline, acting, and it is perfect for analysis in this class!

The first conflict lies in a soldier named Santiago that is going against the grain and considered a "screw-up" at Gitmo. This conflict led to two marines getting a "code red" order which resulted in the murder of Santiago. The whole point of this movie is to figure out whose fault it is that this marine got murdered. Is is the two marines who "went too far", or the senior officers who ordered this "code red" murder? Tom Cruise's character is somewhat of a rookie and there is conflict in his ability to get the job done as the two marines defense attorney.

The conflicts seem realistic and are portrayed in a perfect way, by making the viewer find out facts about the case as everyone else in the court is. I am not real familiar with procedures in the military, but it seems like something that could and would happen if it was given a chance.

If I were one of the two marines I would have put up more of a fight against doing the wrong thing. You have to keep in mind that I am a girl, so I do not have a problem with trying to look macho, which is more then likely a factor in this conflict as well.

I thought that Tom Cruise was the underdog and Demi Moore really knew her stuff. She seemed like she had the resources in the beginning to win the case, but Tom Cruise proved to have effective negotiation, communication, listening, and problem-solving skills which eventually won him the case. He sensed that something was not right and went with his gut feeling. He found out more then anyone else knew when he confronted Jessup on the stand.

The only issue that I was a little disappointed about in this film was the lack of order in the military and I just hoped in my heart that this would not happen in real life. If it does, I am completely disheartened because our money supports this corruptness. I am not naive to the fact that our government is corrupt, but I would hope that it would not result in the loss of someones life. I can understand the concept of friendly fire, but purposely killing someone off is different. But I think that I might have my head in the clouds...=(

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